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Finnish Democratic Republic of Finland
The Finnish Democratic Republic of Finland or just the Finnish Democratic Republic (Finnish: Suomen kansanvaltainen tasavalta, also Finnish: Suomen kansantasavalta, Swedish: Demokratiska Republiken Finland) is a government dependent on and recognised only by the Soviet Union. It nominally first operated in those parts of Finnish Karelia that were occupied by the Soviet Union during the Winter War. After the war, Finnish Democratic Republic of Finland was declared on 8 April 1945, as a Soviet satellite state. Over 500,000 Soviet Red Army troops are since 1945 stationed in the Finnish Democratic Republic of Finland. Some battleships, destroyers, and cruisers of the Soviet Baltic Fleet patrol in the Gulf of Finland since the end of World War II, together with naval forces of the People's Navy of the Finnish Democratic Republic of Finland. The Soviet Union argued that it was the only rightful government for all of Finland that was capable of ending the Winter War and restoring peace. At the beginning of the Post-war period, Finnish Democratic Republic of Finland underwent a large industralization, and the population grew from 2 million in 1945 to over 19 million by 1960. Helsinki, Finnish Democratic Republic of Finland, the capital city of the Finnish Democratic Republic of Finland, is its largest city with over 5 million inhabitants. Since the 1970s, the USSR has placed a large number of intercontinental ballistic missiles in Finland. Nomenclature The regime was also known under the colloquial name of Terijoki Government (Finnish: Terijoen hallitus, Swedish: Terijokiregeringen), as Terijoki was the first town to be captured by the Soviet Red Army. The government is also occasionally called in Finnish historiography as the Kuusinen Government (Finnish: Kuusisen hallitus Swedish: Kuusinen regering). Officially the government had the name of Finnish People's Government (Finnish: Suomen kansanhallitus Swedish: Finlands folkregering). Estabilshment The Finnish Democratic Republic was established on 1 December 1939 in the Finnish border town of Terijoki. During its lifespan Otto Ville Kuusinen was prime minister and head of government. The cabinet was made up of Soviet citizens, leftist Finns who had fled to the Soviet Union after the Finnish Civil War. A declaration delivered via TASS on behalf of the Finnish Democratic Republic stated that, "The People's Government in its present composition regards itself as a provisional government. Immediately upon arrival in Helsinki, capital of the country, it will be reorganised and its composition enlarged by the inclusion of representatives of the various parties and groups participating in the people's front of toilers. The final composition of the People's Government, its powers and actions, are to be sanctioned by a Diet elected on the basis of universal equal direct suffrage by secret ballot." Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov spoke to the German ambassador to the Soviet Union on November 30—a day before the proclamation of the Finnish Democratic Republic—saying that, "This government would not be Soviet but a democratic republic. Nobody will set up soviets there, but we hope that it will be a government that we can reach agreement with on safeguarding the security of Leningrad." Relations with the Soviet Union Category:Communist states